Hi everyone, just wanted to drop in and update everyone. The last fundraiser went very well and it has been a busy month or so aboard the Goldenrod Showboat. Myself and the caretaker team have been pumping water from the hull, we have about 8 more inches of water to pump to be done. We have been also cleaning the interior of the boat. We have had several events aboard the boat recently and they went very well. Myself and Jake Medford built a ramp from the landing barge to the boat that makes getting on board so much easier now. I will be building a second ramp from the bank to the landing barge very soon.The Illinois river has been dropping and once again we find the boat on a bit of a tilt due to it being so close to the bank.

I do want to make mention of an event coming up soon and i hope many of you will help support us by participating in this event.GiveSTLDay is Tuesday, May 5, 2015 and it will be a big day for the Historic Riverboat Preservation Association and nearly 800 other local area nonprofits. On Tuesday, May 5, be part of Give STL Day and make a difference in St. Louis!

Give STL Day is a 24-hour giving event with local impact. Donate to the nonprofits working on the causes YOU care about. More than 790 nonprofit organizations have signed up to participate and will be raising much needed dollars with your help! You can go to givestlday.org to get more information and you can find us under St Louis County listings of non for profits. Also our direct link to give a donation that day is
[url]https://www.givestlday.org/#npo/historic-riverboat-preservation-association[/url]

If you care anything about our efforts please donate on that day and spread the word. I will be back soon with more updates and information concerning our efforts to save the historic legendary Goldenrod Showboat. I uploaded a few picture of the ramp myself and Jake built. For those who don't know Jake he is in the red shirt and yours truly is in the greenish yellow shirt! Till next time thanks for taking the time to read this post!
Sincerely Wayne
Lead caretaker of the Goldenrod Showboat

Wayne White

04-28-2015 01:59 PM

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It has been an interesting time since becoming involved in this project. I do urge each and everyone one of you to please get behind our effort in any way that you can. You can donate as little as $10 on GiveSTLDay and we are always open to any size donations at any time. The money that is raised is used to fund our operating costs till such time we can find a partner to help us with the restoration of the Goldenrod.

Myself and many others have countless volunteer hours invested in trying to save this boat. But we need more support. The one things that bothers me as i see people post after a boat is gone. That they wish they could have done something. They wring there hands and cry at the loss of another piece of history. Our project to save the Goldenrod is in dire need of funding i can't express that enough. So even if you can't help us yourself please pass the word on to others.If something doesn't come together soon there may not be a boat to save. We have various expenses that have to be paid out monthly. We work on a very shoe string budget just trying to maintain the boat and property she is moored at.

Myself and all the other volunteers in this project would like to continue to work at saving this boat. So please help us in any way you can.

Sincerely Wayne
Lead caretaker for the Goldenrod Showboat

Wayne White

05-01-2015 05:30 PM

Good afternoon everyone. Just 4 more days to GiveSTLDay and i hope you will donate to our cause. It has been brought to my attention that people would like to see more of what we are doing with money donated to the cause of saving the Goldenrod Showboat. So here at what details i have been allowed to reveal.
Monies raised from our fundraisers have been used toward paying off the back mooring fees that were owed to the landowners.
We have a lease with the landowners on the boat and property which is an additional monthly expense. We have taken over all maintenance of the boat and property. Our caretaker team is in charge of seeing that lines are kept adjusted depending on the river levels. And anything else that need maintained on the property and boat.

Monies raised from events that have been held aboard the boat go into our our operations fund to buy needed supplies for cleaning the boat, repairing leaks ie bucket of tar and tar broom. We also acquired a generator to have power at the boat as well as a sump pump and hose for pumping out the hull of the boat.We recently completed a ramp that can be locked to keep unauthorized people of the boat. That ramp cost just under $200 in lumber alone.

What has been done in the past is the sealing up of all broken out windows on the boat as well as those in the pilot house in order to stop further intrusion of water damage into the boat. We are currently waiting on a very warm day in order to seal up a leak that we have pinpointed on the roof of the boat. Which has let water damage a part of the ceiling in the balcony of the theater.
We are also constantly cleaning the boat so that when we hold events aboard the boat the boat is presentable. So we go though quite a bit of cleaning supplies. We hold tours when scheduled, we also hold events for photographers and paranormal groups who investigate the boat. This is done in order to get the word out about our efforts to save the boat.

Our caretaker team contributes many many volunteer hours conducting tours, cleaning aboard the boat, making needed repairs. I will upload a few pictures of what we have done. I will mention i donated 100s of feet of plastic and wooden lauves that were needed to seal up all the windows that were either broken out of not shutting completely.

We do not spend money needlessly and many of our volunteers contribute materials out of their own pockets in order to do what needs to be done. Some may laugh at our efforts but our goal is to maintain what we have until such time we get the money ie grants, donations or a partner to restore the Goldenrod back to her former legendary historic glory. This grassroots effort started with one young man and it has now grown to 20 volunteers giving their time and efforts to save this neglected and forgotten treasure.
Sincerely Wayne
Lead Caretaker of the Goldenrod Showboat
#TeamGoldenRod #TheShowBoatMustGoOn
P.S i tried twice to upload pictures without any luck so no pictures as of right now. If you have Facebook look me up and add me as i have many many pictures of our efforts aboard the boat. Til next time thanks for reading and following our adventure on saving the Goldenrod Showboat!
This is the message i get when trying to upload pictures to the site. "Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing.
If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error."

carole matthews

05-02-2015 10:22 AM

Goldenrod Showboat Update

Wayne Thanks for the update.Must not be easy to maintain as possible a boat of that age.Good luck with the event for donations on May 5th 2015.Yes wouldn't it be just amazing to see her restored to her former glory for us an future generations to enjoy.Not too many of these old timers still around. Can only think of one other The Majestic in Cincinnati Ohio Carole Matthews Pompano Beach Florida. PS Your new website is much improved.Thanks again. Please everyone donate so this great old showboat can be restored.

Wayne White

05-03-2015 08:29 PM

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Thanks for the support Carole, we appreciate it very much. Just uploaded a few pictures i think the first one was the stain glass in the double door entrance. The second one is a picture of when we were putting plastic over windows and the third is a picture of when we were pumping water out of the hull.

We have been on the brink of great things happening with this project at times. Only to see the rug pulled out from under us a number of times. Hopefully one day soon we will finally have some luck. I will upload more pictures when i get a chance. If the weather holds out plan on being at the boat Thursday afternoon to spread some tar on the roof trying to stop a leak we have.

Sincerely Wayne
Lead Caretaker of the Goldenrod Showboat

Wayne White

05-03-2015 08:41 PM

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A few more pictures. The first one is floor supports down in the hull of the boat. The second one was taken under the stage area looking toward the theater. The third one is a picture i took of the front of the boat from the bank.

Wayne White

05-04-2015 11:28 PM

Just a reminder GiveSTLDay starts at midnight central time tonight 5/5 and goes for 24 hrs. So if you can help our cause please do.
PRIZES! Yes, prizes. Donors and Non-Profits can benefit from donations. Donors could score some cards tickets while non-profits can earn extra money from matching donation times etc. Here is the list of times of prize drawings [url]https://givestlday.org/#prizes[/url]

Important times to Donate: 6:00 A.M. 10:00 A.M. 12:00 P.M. 6:00 P.M. 11:00 P.M. at the top of the hour but not before it! This is the time that there will be $20,000 each time for matching donations. This will be a percentage but it will still give us extra for each donation.
Here is the direct link to out page to donate on the GiveSTLDay site. Please help if you can and if you can't then please spread the word. We would appreciate it.
[url]https://givestlday.org/#npo/historic-riverboat-preservation-association[/url]

Wayne White

05-08-2015 04:57 AM

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Good morning everyone. Just a quick update. GiveSTLDay netted us 1,235.00 and we do appreciate each and everyone's donations.Over 2 million dollars was raised in the 24 hours that this event went on. We continue to explore ways of raising funds to continue our efforts to save and restore the Goldenrod.

I leave you with a few photo's i was lucky enough to find. We do have written permission to use them in our efforts to save and restore the Goldenrod. The first one if the Goldenrod left high and dry in what is believed to be Pittsburgh,Pa

The 2nd one is the Goldenrod sitting on the bank on the Covington side across from Cincinnati being pumped out by the Crown Hill towboat after it apparently hit a snag that caused a hole in her hull.

The third one is a picture of the stage area in 1951.
Hope you enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading this post!
Sincerely Wayne
Lead Caretaker of the Goldenrod Showboat

Judy Patsch

05-08-2015 09:29 AM

pix

Sorry you didn't get more donations last week. As I read it, they were matched between 6 and 6:30 AM so that's when I signed in.
Thanks for those pix - I've never seen any of them. In the second one at Covington, that is the Streckfus Steamers excursion boat WASHINGTON passing downstream in the background.

Wayne White

05-08-2015 07:07 PM

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Thanks Judy, for the donation and yes we were hoping to raise much more then we did. But that's the way it goes when you are competing for dollars with almost 800 other organizations in such a short time period. I started this year off with high hopes that great things were in store for the Goldenrod and i still feel that way.

It's just a matter of making that right connections and networking with as many people as possible. We have been approached by that production company with the possibility of talks in the future but we can't bank on any of that. So we will continue to find ways of keeping this project alive one way or the other. We are not willing to give up on the Goldenrod and let the hard work of Capt Menke and all those who have seen her though the hard times go to waste.

I love this boat for its rich history and the past that it represents. The dream of all those that have kept her going since the day she was built. Thanks everyone who have supported our efforts and if you can help in any way we do appreciate it.
I will post a couple more pictures of her as well back in better days.

First picture is the Goldenrod right after her construction.So new they hadn't constructed her Pilot house yet!
Picture was taken near Sistersville,WV I had the name of the towboat pushing her but i can't find that info at the moment of posting this.

Second picture is of her signage at St Louis no date given when picture was taken.

Third picture is a night shot of the Goldenrod no date given when it was taken.

Everyone have a great day, Myself i have to get ready for work!
Sincerely Wayne
Lead Caretaker of the Goldenrod Showboat

carole matthews

05-08-2015 10:36 PM

Goldenrod Showboat Update/

HI WAYNE Carole Matthews here.Keep up the good work an fundraising an I know some day we will see the iconic Goldenrod Showboat once again redone and back at doing what she has always done. Side Note Been talking to Mark at production co.He is their casting director an once they get done with the abandoned riverboat project he indicated Goldenrod an Delta Queen may be down the road.They are looking at a closed up casino in Belle Chase Louisana for the show.Had me looking up all the closed or abandoned riverboats in the United States WHEW. Keith at the Howard he is trying to reach for his comments.Carole from POMpano Beach Fla

Judy Patsch

05-09-2015 07:59 AM

no need to look up

No need to look up all the abandoned casinos. I identified it in an early posting: the BOOMTOWN BELLE. It was in the Harvey Canal on the Westbank and had a very short career. The few times it left the dock it traveled only a few hundred yards. Louisiana caved in earlier than other states, allowing casino boats to stop running about 6 months into the industry. As to reaching Keith, you won't. He is very busy, in the final process of setting up their big Arts and Antique Show fundraiser for next weekend, and he has no information nor interest in the BOOMTOWN BELLE anyway.

carole matthews

05-09-2015 09:13 AM

Goldenrod Showboat Update/ Boomtown Belle

Judy I will pass your comments on to Mark from the production co.They wanted to talk to Keith to get his comments on riverboats in general not the Boomtown Belle in particular an its too late I already looked up all the abandoned riverboats I could find an there are ALOT of them our there.Its a t.v.show still in the planning stages they are hoping for 5 seasons.Carole Matthews

Wayne White

06-02-2015 01:35 PM

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Just wanted to post an update to this thread. Sunday we held a work day aboard the Goldenrod Showboat. We accomplished quite a bit aboard the boat but unfortunately i was so busy i didn't get many pictures taken. Thanks to a generous donor we built a second ramp from the bank to the landing barge this will allow for those taking tours or attending events much easier access to the showboat. No more climbing ladders to get on and off the boat. We also worked on more security items aboard the boat as well as placed screens in windows to allow better air flow though the boat especially during hot weather.

We also pumped water from the hull during the day to continue to drop the water level from condensation and rain water that had entered the boat over a long amount of time. We are very pleased how this second ramped turned out and we appreciated the efforts of the two who built it Sunday afternoon. Floors were mopped and swept as well as upkeep of the property during the day. The roadside shoulder was weed eated as well as the area around the bank approach to the boat. We wish to thank all volunteers who showed up and gave of their time Sunday it was a very enjoyable day! The first two pictures are of the new ramp being put together and the last one is a shot from the upper story walkway at the front of the boat looking upriver.

carole matthews

06-15-2015 09:30 AM

Island Queen Riverboat Deck Collapses April 1922

Nebraska St.Journal April 28 1922.Nice article re deck collapse of Island Queen.President Harding was supposed to be on it but on the advice of his aide an due to the boats age he took another newer government owned boat in a flotilla of 7 boats. Only 3 injuries none life threatening. Don't know if anyone interested but article was so well written you were transported back in time an felt like you were right there when it happened. Article is titled Richmond Ohio Deck Collapses on Riverboat Island Queen. Carole Matthews Pompano Beach Fla. I noticed a picture on this site of the IQ showing it after the deck collapsed.

Jim Reising

06-16-2015 12:33 PM

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Picture of the ISLAND QUEEN taken by Clyde Howard as the boat passed the Cincinnati Marine Ways, the Howards acquired the Cincinnati yard around 1903 when they also got the yards in Madison, Paducah and Mound City.

Jim Blum

09-26-2017 07:16 PM

While this tread is over two years old & I have to admit that it has been quite some time since I paid a personal visit to the Goldenrod location the National Trust for Historic Preservation magazine PRESERVATION [Fall 2017] eased into our mailbox today.

On page 15 Listed as [LOST] a full page was devoted to the Goldenrod over half page color photo bleeding off to right side and text describes briefly the [1937 to May 2017] travails of the vessel.